1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wiper systems for vehicles and, more specifically, to a mounting assembly for mounting a wiper blade to a wiper arm for a wiper system of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional wiper systems known in the related art include some type of wiper assembly (hereinafter referred to as a “wiper blade”) mounted to a wiper arm assembly (hereinafter referred to as a “wiper arm”), which, in turn, is mounted adjacent to a surface to be wiped, such as a windshield. The wiper arm is pivotally driven to impart reciprocal motion to the wiper blade across the windshield. The wiper blade includes a wiping element that contacts the windshield across the surface to be wiped. The wiper blade is commonly either of the “tournament” or “beam blade” type. Both types of wiper blades commonly known in the related art typically incorporate one or more metal strips that act to reinforce the wiping element and facilitate wiping contact by the wiping element across what is typically a curved surface. In this context, the wiper arm delivers downward force to the wiper blade that is distributed thereacross, pressing the wiping element into contact with the surface to be wiped.
While such wiper systems known in the related art have generally worked for their intended purposes, some deficiencies still remain. In a rear wiper blade application, one type of wiper blade is mounted to one type of wiper arm. This requires many different types of wiper blades for many different vehicles. As such, there are multiple wiper blades for each vehicle model, which is undesired.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for one wiper blade to fit multiple vehicles. There is also a need in the art for a mounting assembly to allow replacement of rear blades on various vehicles.